RELEASE: pr5329-07

Illinois Federal District Court Imposes a Permanent Trading Ban and a $100,000 Civil Monetary Penalty against Florida Resident Bernadette Flavell for Violating a CFTC Order

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced today that on April 23, 2007, the Hon. James B. Moran of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued a permanent injunction and final judgment ordering that Bernadette Flavell, a resident of Florida, pay a $100,000 civil monetary penalty for failing to comply with a prior CFTC administrative order dated July 11, 2002. In addition, the court imposed a permanent trading ban against Flavell.

In the July 11, 2002 CFTC order (see CFTC News Release 4668-02, July 11, 2002), Flavell and others were found to have defrauded clients and prospective clients through material misrepresentations in newspaper advertisements and written promotional materials regarding System of Success-Window to Profit’s (SOS) commodity futures trading systems. This activity was in violation of the anti-fraud provisions of the federal commodities laws and regulations (see CFTC News Release 4444-00, September 7, 2000).

The July 11, 2002 CFTC order required Flavell, among other things, to pay a civil monetary penalty of $50,000 pursuant to a payment plan. The order also required Flavell to submit sworn financial statements to a Monitor, the National Futures Association, listing her bank account assets and interest in corporations for the purpose of determining the amount of annual civil monetary penalty to be paid by her.

Flavell Filed False Financial Statements with the Monitor in Violation of the CFTC Order

The court found that Flavell violated the July 11, 2002 CFTC order by filing blatantly false financial sworn statements with the Monitor. The court further found that Flavell failed to list her assets, her business interests, and more than 100 instances where Flavell transferred assets in excess of $1,000, including one transfer of $805,000. The court also found that, on other occasions, Flavell failed to file sworn financial statements at all. The court further found that “[t]he CFTC wants its order enforced and it has a statutory right to have that happen.”

The CFTC would like to thank the National Futures Association for their assistance in the investigation and litigation of this matter.